Bulls hit heights for season

Last Nov. 23, the Bulls practiced in Phoenix with an 0-9 record, Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler unhappy over being removed from the starting lineup and about as much hope for the future as victories.

The possibility of a nine-game winning streak seemed as distant as Mars.

But that's what the Bulls own after a 112-97 victory over Charlotte on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 22,074 at the United Center.

The Bulls are now a season-high 10 games above .500 and within a half-game of Washington for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

"It's a 19-game turnaround within the span of one season so far," coach Scott Skiles said. "That's very impressive. I'm proud of the way they have come back, especially in the last five, six weeks, with all this stuff going on."

The "stuff" on Saturday consisted of Eddy Curry remaining hospitalized for testing of an irregular heartbeat and Luol Deng sitting with a sprained right wrist.

But as has happened so many times this season, unheralded players contributed huge games.

"It must be the gumbo and some home-cooked meals," Duhon said, smiling. "But this just shows again when we're faced with adversity, we have guys who can step up and help us win games. That will be huge for us when we get to the playoffs."

The Bulls may be chasing home-court advantage in the playoffs, but trust this tidbit: They're happy to say goodbye and good riddance to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats.

When Notre Dame graduate Matt Carroll drained two free throws with 4 minutes 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Bobcats led 68-67.

But the Bulls scored three points on each of four possessions to take an 84-76 lead into the fourth.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Piatkowski and Jannero Pargo were followed by a conventional three-point play from Nocioni. And then Duhon drained a halfcourt shot to beat the third-quarter buzzer.

Three nights after scoring a spectacular 22 fourth-quarter points against this same team, Ben Gordon failed to score through three quarters and had four fouls to boot. Gordon finished with two points in just 13 minutes.

His floater in the lane with seven minutes remaining capped a 10-0 Bulls run and marked his first points.

Kirk Hinrich's minutes also were limited as he continues to play with a sore left hamstring. Hinrich finished with nine points and five assists in 25 minutes.

Still, the Bulls improved to 4-5 without Curry.

"We can't use this as an excuse," Skiles said. "These games are too important. In general, we haven't been that good without Eddy. We've been able to win the last few games without him. But if we have our preference, it's not anything that we want to last very long."

Chandler, who had 12 points and 15 rebounds, knows that.

"We need to be at full strength so we can be playing our best basketball going into the postseason," he said.